Events

CELPC Spring Speaker Series - Sylvia Quast

Wednesday, April 2

Environmental Litigation in the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of California

Sylvia QuastExecutive Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California

Sylvia Quast is the Executive Assistant United States Attorney in the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of California. In that capacity, she shares management responsibility with the U.S. Attorney and the First Assistant U.S. Attorney for a 175-member Office. She also oversees environmental enforcement actions in California's largest federal judicial district and serves as the District's Tribal Liaison. Prior to becoming the Executive AUSA, she oversaw virtually all litigation against the federal government in the District, including environmental litigation. She will talk about the institutional role of the US Attorney, with a particular focus on the Eastern District of California and its role in environmental litigation, particularly the challenges and opportunities in overseeing and protecting the abundant natural resources found in the Eastern District.

From 2005-2008, Ms. Quast was an attorney at the Resources Law Group in Sacramento, where she provided strategic conservation advice to philanthropic organizations and individuals, as well as local governments. While at RLG, she served as finance coordinator for the Proposition 84 campaign, which secured $5.4 billion in bond funding for clean water and conservation in California, and helped to develop a long-term restoration plan for the San Francisco Bay Salt Pond project, the largest wetland restoration project in the western United States. Prior to 2005, Ms. Quast was a senior attorney with the United States Department of Justice's Environment and Natural Resources Division in Washington, D.C., where she litigated numerous environmental cases in the United States Supreme Court and the federal courts of appeal, particularly the Ninth Circuit. She also prepared Department officials for Congressional hearings, press conferences, and other public presentations and appearances. Among her other responsibilities, she served as the Department's representative on the United States Coral Reef Task Force.